Printable Bowling Word Searches

Find 16 bowling words, from Strike to Wombat, then press New puzzle or print the sheet with its answer key.

Name Date

Bowling Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

PRIAGAYDNENCCWN

OAXZIRPLANMQOXY

CWHAHCFORDPLEST

KOPILAKTRBAFRUL

EMGXSDTKOWOERCE

TBUMPERSWEMLHHI

CATMLHOPSASPFOW

DTTUIOPATURIZOZ

OREZTDHRRUUNPKN

ULRRPPYEIOSSFRF

BSTBYRENKUREOAM

LYRESCOREYATMJW

EEALANEONIMTMGO

TEPFNAEVTBTEDEL

DONTRPTUBTURKEY

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

LaneLANE
GutterGUTTER
ArrowsARROWS
PocketPOCKET
PinsetterPINSETTER
BumpersBUMPERS
StrikeSTRIKE
SpareSPARE
TurkeyTURKEY
DoubleDOUBLE
WombatWOMBAT
ScoreSCORE
SplitSPLIT
HookHOOK
ArcadeARCADE
TrophyTROPHY

16 of 24 words from the Favorite Bowling Words list.

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Answer key: Bowling Word Search

PRIAGAYDNENCCWN

OAXZIRPLANMQOXY

CWHAHCFORDPLEST

KOPILAKTRBAFRUL

EMGXSDTKOWOERCE

TBUMPERSWEMLHHI

CATMLHOPSASPFOW

DTTUIOPATURIZOZ

OREZTDHRRUUNPKN

ULRRPPYEIOSSFRF

BSTBYRENKUREOAM

LYRESCOREYATMJW

EEALANEONIMTMGO

TEPFNAEVTBTEDEL

DONTRPTUBTURKEY

LANE, GUTTER, ARROWS, POCKET, PINSETTER, BUMPERS, STRIKE, SPARE, TURKEY, DOUBLE, WOMBAT, SCORE, SPLIT, HOOK, ARCADE, TROPHY

Next step Hide your own league's first names in a grid Print the all-sports word search

All 113 words

The Lane 25

Alley An everyday name for one lane, or for the whole building full of them.
Approach The floor short of the foul line, and the steps a bowler takes across it.
Arrows Painted darts a short way down the lane, used for aiming.
Automatic Describes the machines that set the pins, a job once done by hand.
Back end The last third of the lane, where there is little or no oil.
Ball return The track that carries each one back up to the bowlers after it is rolled.
Boards The 39 narrow strips, real or drawn, that make up the width of the lane.
Bumpers Rails raised along both edges of the lane for beginners, so that no roll is lost.
Channel The formal name for the trough along each edge of the lane.
Conditioner Another word for the oil put on the lane.
Dots Round guide marks on the approach that help with where to put the feet.
Foul line The stripe where the lane begins; a foot over it wipes out that roll.
Gutter The trough along each edge of the lane that swallows a ball gone wide.

Show all 113 words (100 more)

The Lane, continued

Head pin Pin number one, at the front of the set.
Kingpin The pin in the very middle of the triangle, number five.
Lane The playing surface of wood or synthetic panels, far longer than it is wide.
Oil A slick coating on roughly the first two thirds of a lane; a ball slides on it before it curves.
Pair Two neighboring lanes that share one return track.
Pin deck The far end of the lane, where the rack of ten stands.
Pinsetter The machine that clears fallen pins and stands up a fresh ten.
Pit The space behind the pins that collects everything knocked or swept back.
Pocket The sweet spot just beside the front pin: hit it and all ten are likely to fall.
Rack All ten pins as a set, in the machine or standing ready.
Sweep The bar that comes down and pushes fallen pins off the far end of the lane.
Synthetic Describes a lane made of something other than wood.

Frames and Scoring 22

Average Your usual result, worked out over many lines.
Bonus Extra pins counted from the next roll or two, the reward for a strike or a spare.
Clean game Ten frames with a strike or a spare in every one.
Consecutive One right after another, as twelve strikes must be for 300.
Double Two strikes in a row.
Fill ball An extra roll in the last frame that completes the bonus owed.
Frame One of the ten turns that make up a bowler's game.
Hambone A newer nickname for four strikes back to back.
Handicap Extra pins added to even things up between stronger and weaker bowlers.
Mark A strike or a spare: any frame that is not left open.
Perfect game A dozen strikes from the first roll to the last, for the top score of 300.
Pinfall The number a single ball takes off the deck.
Score The running number on the sheet.
Scratch Describes a result exactly as rolled, with no handicap added.
Series A set of games, usually three in a row, with the scores added together.
Spare Whatever pins the first roll missed, cleaned up by the second: a slash on the sheet.
Sparrow A run of three spares, frame after frame.
Strike Every pin knocked over by the first ball of a frame, written as an X.
Tenth The last frame, where a strike or a spare earns extra rolls.
Total The number at the end of the line.
Turkey A strike, then a second, then a third, one after the other in the same game.
Wombat A spare made right after the first roll went into the gutter.

Shots and Leaves 26

Alignment How the feet, hips and shoulders are squared up before the first step.
Backswing The part of the swing that carries the ball up behind the body.
Breakpoint The spot far down the lane where a ball stops sliding and starts to hook.
Brooklyn A roll that drifts across the middle and hits the pins on the off side.
Bucket A diamond-shaped cluster of four pins left standing.
Chop To take the front one of two pins and miss the one behind.
Conversion Knocking down everything that the first roll left: turning a leave into a spare.
Cranker A bowler who spins the ball hard, choosing power over control.
Deadwood Fallen pins left lying where the sweep cannot reach them.
Delivery Everything from the first step to letting go.
Flush A solid hit in the pocket that sends everything flying back into the pit.
Hook The sharp curve toward the pocket near the end of a roll.
Leave Whatever pins are still standing after the first roll.
Loft The part of a roll spent in the air, between the hand and the boards.
Messenger A pin that flies across the deck and knocks down one on the other side.
Mixer A hit that makes the pins bounce around wildly before they all fall.
Push away The first movement of the swing, easing the ball out in front.
Release The instant the thumb and fingers let go.
Revolution One full turn of the ball as it rolls; more of them mean more hook.
Skid The first, sliding part of a ball's path, before the hook begins.
Sleeper A pin tucked straight behind another, hard to see from the foul line.
Split Front pin down, and two or more left standing with a gap between them.
Stance The still, balanced starting position before the first step.
Straight ball A roll with almost no hook, often chosen for picking off a single pin.
Tweener A bowler whose style falls between the smooth and the powerful.
Washout A gapped leave that still includes the front pin.

Ball and Gear 21

Bag What a regular carries their own ball and shoes in.
Bowling ball The heavy sphere with finger holes drilled in it.
Conventional Describes the basic way of holding on, with fingers in to the second knuckle.
Coverstock The outer shell of the ball, the part that grips the lane.
Finger holes The pair of openings drilled side by side, opposite the one for the thumb.
Grip How the hand fits into the holes.
House ball One of the loaners on the racks, there for any visitor to use.
Inserts Tubes glued into the holes, shaped to fit the fingers.
Polish A liquid that makes a ball's shell shinier and slicker.
Polyester The plain plastic coverstock that rolls straightest.
Rental Describes footwear borrowed at the counter for the day.
Resin An additive in the grippiest coverstocks, the ones that hook the most.
Resurface To sand a ball's shell to the roughness its owner wants.
Rosin A grip aid: powder in a small cloth bag, patted for better control of the ball.
Shoes Special footwear worn only on the lanes, often borrowed at the counter.
Span The distance from the thumb hole to the finger holes.
Tenpin The full name of the kind played with the big ball and a triangle of ten.
Thumb hole The opening for the shortest digit, drilled apart from the other two.
Urethane A coverstock with a gentler hook than the grippiest kind.
Weight block The dense shape hidden in the middle of the ball that affects how it rolls.
Wrist brace A support strapped on to hold the hand firm through the swing.

At the Bowling Center 19

Anchor Whoever rolls last for a team, often its highest scorer or coolest head.
Arcade The corner of a center where the video games are.
Bowler Anyone taking a turn on the lanes.
Candlepin A cousin of the sport with the tallest, thinnest pins and the smallest ball.
Captain The member who leads a team.
Duckpin A cousin of the sport with the shortest pins and a small ball.
High five What teammates trade after all ten pins go down.
Kegler An old-fashioned word for a person who plays this sport.
League A group of teams that meet on the same night each week all season.
Mechanic The person who fixes the pinsetters behind the far wall.
Monitor The overhead screen that shows every frame as it is filled in.
Open bowling Hours when anyone may walk in and play, with no teams or schedule.
Party What a birthday group books a pair of lanes for.
Shadow bowling Practice swings and rolls with no pins set up.
Skittles An old European game that was the forerunner of this sport.
Snack bar Where the fries and the nachos come from.
Teammate Someone whose score is added to yours for the team result.
Tournament A big event that bowlers enter to play for a title.
Trophy The prize on the shelf at the end of the season.

How this list was compiled: Bowling words chosen and defined for this site in five themed lists (the lane, frames and scoring, shots and leaves, ball and gear, at the bowling center), with a favorites list, an easy list and a hard list. Terms and scoring were checked on 2026-10-03 against the English Wikipedia articles Ten-pin bowling, Bowling, Glossary of bowling and Rosin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_bowling (CC BY-SA 4.0), and spellings against Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/. Every meaning is in our own words. No league, tour, tournament, bowler or brand is named. Licence: own work

How it works

This bowling word search opens on favorites such as Strike, Spare, Turkey, Gutter and Pocket. Five more lists cover the lane, frames and scoring, shots and leaves, ball and gear, and the bowling center.

Read the full guide

The lane, the scoring, the shots, the gear and the center

Pick under Start from a list. The Lane has Approach, Foul line and Kingpin. Frames and Scoring has Turkey, Hambone and Perfect game. Shots and Leaves has Split, Brooklyn and Messenger, Ball and Gear has Coverstock and Span, and At the Bowling Center has League, Arcade and Duckpin.

Short words for a birthday party, long ones for league night

Easy Bowling Words keeps to short ones such as Lane, Pit, Hook, Spare and Frame. Hard Bowling Words has Pinsetter, Breakpoint, Coverstock and Conventional.

Two-word terms lose the gap in the grid: Foul line reads FOULLINE, and Head pin reads HEADPIN.
Turkey, Hambone, Sparrow and Wombat are scoring slang; their clues say what each run of rolls is.

Questions and answers

What is a turkey in bowling?

A turkey is three strikes in a row in one game. Two in a row is a double, and four is sometimes called a hambone. Twelve in a row is a perfect game, scored 300. All four are in Frames and Scoring.

What is the difference between a strike and a spare?

A strike knocks down all ten pins with the first roll of a frame. A spare knocks down the last of the ten with the second roll. A frame with neither is an open frame. Strike, Spare and Frame are in Frames and Scoring.

Why is the word Pin missing from the lists?

PIN sits inside KINGPIN, PINSETTER, PINFALL and five more entries, so a grid could show it in a second place. Type Pin at the end of the word list to add it.

What do wombat and sparrow mean in bowling?

Both are bowling slang. A wombat is a spare made after the first roll went into the gutter. A sparrow is three spares in a row. Each is in Frames and Scoring with its own clue.

All 113 words

The Lane 25

The Lane, continued

Frames and Scoring 22

Shots and Leaves 26

Ball and Gear 21

At the Bowling Center 19

How it works

The lane, the scoring, the shots, the gear and the center

Short words for a birthday party, long ones for league night

Questions and answers

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